PERSPECTIVES: The Little Mermaid remake was solid, but hereâs where it fell short in honoring its queer legacy
When the announcement of the live-action The Little Mermaid hit the news in 2016, I was looking forward to it coming out. Despite the widely ridiculed hit-or-miss nature of the Disney live-action movies (which I won’t call out but I personally love), I was still pretty excited because I was literally named after the 1989 version of the movie and have been teased about it my entire life (being born in a bathtub has its pros).
ANYWAY, when Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in 2019, I was even MORE ecstatic. I mean, as a biracial woman named after The Little Mermaid herself, why wouldn’t I be?
Outside of these two connections I have to the movie, there’s a third—queerness. For myself and many others in the LGBTQ+ community, The Little Mermaid is seen as an allegory to queerness, so it had a lot to live up to in this area.
For those of you who aren’t familiar or this is news to you, think about it. This is a story about a girl who doesn’t fit into her family or community, wants to be elsewhere, and literally will sacrifice everything to be with the person who she’s told she can’t love because it’s “wrong.”
We can even take this a step further, back 200+ years. The original The Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Andersen, a famous queer Danish writer from the 1800s who fell in love with his friend Edvard Collin, who ended up breaking Hans’s heart by marrying a woman.
It’s no surprise The Little Mermaid has the story and undertones it does, and why it has meant so much to the LGBTQ+ community for decades because a lot of us have felt this way and understand how Ariel feels.
While I clearly don’t speak for everyone in the community, I think it’s safe to say it was one of many of our first experiences truly relating to a Disney character because we could see ourselves in her shoes (I mean, fin), which is why so many people were excited to see the live-action version to see if it not only held up to the original but celebrated its queer origins.
The most prominent figure for queer representation in The Little Mermaid movies has always been Ursula, who was visually designed and inspired by the fiery personality of the legendary drag queen Divine.
Divine was known for being bigger than life, confident, talented, and vulgar. She was a powerhouse and a major influence in the LGBTQ+ community, and she came into being the Ursula as we know her because of Howard Ashman.
Ashman was a gay Jewish playwright and lyricist who wrote the brain-burningly catchy song lyrics to Little Shop of Horrors and a lot of some of our favorite Disney hits, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and more. He was a fan of Divine’s, and when he asked animator Rob Minkoff to design Ursula after the famous drag queen, they struck gold. She was loud, campy, had a notable attitude, and the Disney spin on Divine’s signature look.
Ursula’s make-up could have been better by hiring an actual drag artist
When it came time for Melissa McCarthy to play Ursula in the new The Little Mermaid, she was loud, big, confident, and took up space. From the facial expressions to the changes in her voice and the body movements (not counting the CGI tentacles), she absolutely embodied Divine for me. She did Ursula and Divine justice!
While McCarthy’s performance was one for the books, people in the LGBTQ+ community were originally hoping for an actor that was a person of color and/or queer to play Ursula. There are plenty of bipoc in the industry who could have played this role and slayed it.
Knowing this and the history behind Ursula and the inspiration for her character, it was extra important to cast her in a way that would honor Divine. Since that didn’t happen, the next most important thing is to get her appearance perfect, ESPECIALLY her makeup, right?
Divine had a very bold and specific makeup style that was unique to her; so much so that if you took it and painted it on another person or an inanimate object, a good amount of people in the community would still know whose makeup it was. This said, it would have been disrespectful to inadequately portray Ursula because of the late inspiration behind her, right? …Right?!
Unfortunately, McCarthy’s Ursula makeup missed the mark. There has been discourse surrounding McCarthy’s Ursula makeup not only not being good enough to honor the late Divine, but also because it wasn’t done by someone in the LGBTQ+ community. While anyone could have technically done Ursula’s makeup and done a decent job, someone from the community, especially someone who specializes in drag makeup, should have been hired in this instance because of the queer history behind the character.
Not to mention, representation really freaking matters, and the makeup would have been more meaningful and would have likely come out significantly better if it had been done by an LGBTQ+ makeup artist. To my knowledge, there’s no shortage of professional queer makeup artists in Hollywood. Throw some glitter and it’s going to land on a queer makeup artist or someone who knows one. It would have been that easy for Disney to do.
Do the new songs and choreography live up to the original?
For the choreography – Yes. A surprise Black and queer addition that was unique that the live-action The Little Mermaid was able to bring to the screen was realistic dance movement. Remember “Under the Sea” from the 1989 version with the fish, coral, and other sea critters dancing?
The reason it looks so incredible in the live-action version is because of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Disney brought in dancers from this talented group, recorded them, and was able to create various sea creature movements using the footage of these dancers as a framework. Ailey, a Black gay choreographer and director, founded the dance theater as a way to provide a space for African-Americans in his community.
I can’t imagine how many lives Ailey was able to change with his theater, and Disney inviting his legacy to be further preserved in history through The Little Mermaid should be celebrated. Without Ailey and his Dance Theater, I don’t think “Under the Sea” would have come out nearly as visually stunning as it did.
When it comes to the soundtrack, one word: stunning. Across the board, the entire musical production team and cast slayed the original songs written by Ashman and composed by his original composition partner Menken. The incredible Lin-Manuel Miranda was brought on to create a few songs with Menken, which was a hit or miss with fans.
Personally, I loved Ariel’s “For the First Time.” It’s exceptional. While Eric’s “Wild Uncharted Waters” wasn’t my favorite, the lyrics and the music were well-written and performed. As for “The Scuttlebutt,” a rap number that was highly unexpected, I wanted to love it, but couldn’t because of Awkwafina’s contentious history—how she’s used a blaccent to be “funny” and further her career. Her being given “The Scuttlebutt” to rap, despite the previous backlash, was an especially tone-deaf choice on behalf of Manuel and the team here.
While it would have been nice to have a gay lyricist sit in Ashman’s seat for the refreshed classics and new songs, The Little Mermaid had a budget of $250 million, and it’s likely the Disney executives wanted to go with someone who they’ve already worked with that has an excellent track record, as opposed to someone up-and-coming from the LGBTQ+ community. The company is very much about profits, so as a screenwriter I understand why they went with Miranda; he’s already worked with them in the past and brought Disney the catchy songs from Moana and Encanto (and padded their wallets).
A possible option could have been Elton John, who wrote songs for The Lion King and El Dorado, but I think they may have been looking for a more modern sprinkle on things. Luckily, Miranda is a staunch LGBTQ+ ally and has used his position in the industry as a platform to not only voice support but drive action when it comes to supporting LGBTQ+ individuals in the arts.
It’s a beautiful remake, but it lacks enough queer representation
To summarize, the live-action The Little Mermaid was able to maintain the queer allegory of the original story, honoring Andersen. McCarthy’s portrayal of Ursula was incredible and took the character to the next level, honoring both Divine and Ashman’s vision for the character. Having the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater give realistic movement and beauty to our favorite sea creatures “Under the Sea,” while making more people aware of the theater itself and Ailey himself.
Since the original The Little Mermaid made its theatrical debut in 1989, it has made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide from the movies, video games, toys, and other branded merchandise. And Disney has made billions off of LGBTQ people as artists, writers, actors and performers throughout its history, so it’s a better time than ever for Disney to acknowledge this and celebrate their queer creators by providing adequate representation.Where Disney dropped the ball and could have done more comes down to queer representation. The McCarthy/Ursula makeup artist topic has received the biggest amount of backlash, which is understandable. Ursula is the most notable Disney villain, based off of a legendary drag queen. Disney would have honored Divine and Ashman even further by hiring an LGBTQ+ makeup artist. A major opportunity was missed here.
Even though we didn’t get an outwardly and obviously queer character or a same-sex mer-couple (it would have been cute and meaningful for the LGBTQ+ community), which would have acknowledged the story’s queer allegorical background, a lot of the issues have to do stem from the lack of representation both in front of and behind the camera.
While the live-action The Little Mermaid came out wonderfully and should be celebrated for the talent that came together for it, more could have definitely been done to further queer representation and honor the queer legacy and meaning behind the movie.